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Gríma was secretly in thrall to Saruman, and worked to weaken Théoden and his kingdom. Upon Gandalf's arrival, "many things which men had missed" were found locked in his trunk and he was given a grim choice: ride into battle or into exile. Choosing the latter, he went to dwell with Saruman at Orthanc. Saruman had cause to regret this when, following the confrontation between Saruman and Gandalf, he mistakenly threw a "heavy rock"—which was actually the palantír of Orthanc—at the Rohirrim accompanying Gandalf, an act for which Saruman seems to have punished him severely.

He then accompanied Saruman to the Shire, where the two sought revenge in petty tyranny over the hobbits (though Saruman had already been exerting control from afar by sending evil Men to the Shire). During this time he became increasingly degraded until he was a crawling wretch, almost resembling Gollum, and Saruman shortened his nickname to "Worm". During this time he killed Lotho Sackville-Baggins, and may have eaten him.

Spurred by the words of Frodo that he did not have to follow Saruman, and being pushed over the edge when Saruman scorned him, he used a hidden knife to slit the throat of Saruman and darted down the road. He was quickly killed by several Hobbit arrows.

In Peter Jackson's film , Gríma is played by Brad DourifBradford Claude Dourif (born March 18, 1950 in Huntington, West Virginia) is an American actor. Filmography Heaven's Gate Mississippi Burning The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers His appearance in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was cut fro. The reason for Gríma's pale and emaciated appearance in the movie is not entirely clear. Perhaps it is meant to suggest that by throwing in his lot with Saruman he has started down the same path to physical and mental corruption that caused Gollum to become a twisted parody of his original self, although it is just as likely that Jackson simply wanted to make it clear that Wormtongue was one of the "bad guys" in the large and confusing cast of characters.